Winter Warmup Woes

[jamesturner]

I was hoping that the BMW app would let me use my phone to tell the car to warm up both cabin and battery before I head to the parking lot.
Question: Will it do this if the car is not plugged in to a charger? If not I don't see why I would pay for a subscription. I can charge (for free) at work but I live in a complex where there are no chargers available.

uno online​

Right now I can't get the car (2018 i3s) to warm up much at all unless I am in it. If I turn it on and then get out to brush off the snow, it shuts down the HVAC as soon as I close the door. WTF? On every gas car I have owned this was routine -- start the car and let the heater start to warm the windshield while scraping the snow. Is there some setting I need to change to enable this?

The freeway on-ramp is about a mile from my home. When it's like 5 degrees F, the acceleration is .... leisurely. And the top speed is .... low. Not a good thing when trying to merge onto I-94. Sure wish I could tell the car to warm up in advance! I can charge when I get to work so I don't care much that this takes some energy out of the battery.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[robthebold]

If you're not connected to a charger, it won't warm up the battery, but you can definitely precondition the interior remotely. I'm not sure, but it sounds like you haven't tried it, maybe like you're wondering if you should subscribe . . . My wife doesn't particularly like my i3, but if she's going out on a cold night, she'll take it anyway, knowing that she can call me at 2AM before she heads out into the blast and have me turn on the cabin heat in advance.

Also, if you have a predictable schedule, you should definitely use the scheduled departure time program. With or without a Connected Drive subscription, this is a killer feature. Again, if you're not plugged in, it won't precondition the drive system, just the interior. But even that is really nice.

Last, if you can find any way to get your car plugged in on a cold night -- even just the so-called "Occasional Use Charger" -- it'll reduce the number of times you see this:

 

[eNate]

Additionally, besides needing to be plugged in, you'll need to set a scheduled departure time to warm the cold battery. BMW says it needs to know this three hours in advance – it's a low wattage heater and doesn't run on demand.

As for the car shutting off, simply fasten the seat belt behind your back, or lock the passenger side seat belt into the driver's side clip, and the car will remain powered up while you're outside tending to business.

 

[EvanstonI3]

You can only "pre-condition" the HV battery if it is PLUGGED IN -and- a Departure Time is set 3hrs in advance of Departure Time.
The Cabin Climatization (preconditioning) would still get done though, or you can manually select the FAN icon in the app but depending on how cold it is, you should leave at least 20 minutes if not 30 to warm up the Cabin.

If the ambient temp is 5F and the HV battery is cold you are going to get very reduced performance from that battery pack.

 

[SSi3]

https://insideevs.com/news/325863/bmw-i3-how-preconditioning-works/

 

[Rossifer]

You can only "pre-condition" the HV battery if it is PLUGGED IN -and- a Departure Time is set 3hrs in advance of Departure Time.

Sorry, not true. I've pre-conditioned my 2015 i3 Terra without being plugged in. But, it does take quite a bit if range off the battery.

 

[EvanstonI3]

Sorry, not true. I've pre-conditioned my 2015 i3 Terra without being plugged in. But, it does take quite a bit if range off the battery.

Not the HV battery. Only the Cabin will be pre-conditioned if the car is not plugged in. I've tested this on my car when the HV battery was 5C, unplugged, and at Departure time the Cabin was warm but the HV battery was still 5C. Proper Pre-Conditioning of the HV Battery pack will bring the Battery pack temp up to 10C

 

[duanew]

Another thing you might try is the "Activate Comfort Climate" setting. Turn on the car without pressing the brake pedal and activate that setting. It should be in the vehicle settings.

 

[robthebold]

Another thing you might try is the "Activate Comfort Climate" setting. Turn on the car without pressing the brake pedal and activate that setting. It should be in the vehicle settings.

Or just turn off the car and it offers the option immediately. Might seem counterintuitive to a driver coming straight from an ICE vehicle at first . . .